n8n: Part 1 — Process automation without coding

Routine operations — moving leads from a website into a CRM, notifying employees, daily reports, publishing news in channels — take time and cause errors. Such chains can be automated without developing a separate program using visual automation platforms. One of the most popular is n8n.

What is n8n

n8n is a platform where automation workflows are built in a visual editor from individual blocks — nodes. Each node performs a single action: retrieves data from a service, transforms it, checks a condition, sends a message, or makes an API request. A workflow is triggered: on a schedule, by an incoming webhook, when a new record appears in a service, or manually.

License: fair-code, not open source

n8n is often called an open-source project, but that’s not entirely accurate. The source code is published, however it is distributed under the project’s own Sustainable Use License, and files with enterprise features (marked with .ee in the name or path) are under a separate commercial n8n Enterprise License. The developers themselves call this model fair-code.

What this means in practice:

• using n8n for internal company tasks, non-commercial, and personal purposes is free, including on your own server;
• distributing n8n is allowed only for free and non-commercial purposes; you cannot sell n8n as a service or embed it in a paid product without a separate agreement with the developers;
• enterprise features require a paid license.

For automating processes inside your own company, the license restrictions usually do not get in the way. If you plan to provide access to n8n to your clients for a fee, study the license terms first.

Features

• Visual editor. A workflow is assembled from nodes connected by arrows; the result of each step is visible during a test run.
• Ready-made integrations. According to the developers, there are over 1,500: CRM systems, messengers, email, spreadsheets, databases, payment and cloud services.
• HTTP requests and webhooks. The HTTP Request node works with any service that has an API, even if there is no built-in integration. The Webhook node accepts data from external systems, for example from a form on a website.
• Conditions, branching and loops. A workflow can process data differently depending on its content.
• Custom code. If the standard nodes are not enough, logic can be extended with JavaScript or Python.
• Error handling. You can set up a separate workflow for failures that notifies the responsible employee about the problem.

Automation examples

1. Leads from the website. A website form sends data to an n8n webhook. The workflow checks required fields, creates a deal in Bitrix24 or amoCRM, sends a notification to the manager in Telegram and a confirmation email to the client.
2. Publishing materials. When a new article appears in the blog RSS feed, n8n publishes an announcement in a Telegram channel and in a VK community.
3. Daily report. On a schedule the workflow collects sales data from the CRM, calculates totals and sends a summary to the manager.
4. Monitoring. The workflow regularly checks website availability or a change in the supplier page price and reports deviations.

Cloud or self-hosted

n8n Cloud — the developers’ cloud service. As of September 2026, with annual billing the Starter plan costs €20 per month (2,500 workflow executions), Pro — €50 (10,000 executions), Business — €667 (40,000 executions, SSO); Enterprise is available for large companies. In all plans the number of users and workflows is unlimited, and pricing depends on the number of executions. You cannot pay the subscription with a Russian bank card.

Community Edition — the free self-hosted version. The number of executions is limited only by the server capacity, data stays with you, but administration, updates and backups are your responsibility.

Quick start on your computer

You can try n8n with Docker. Commands from the project’s documentation:

docker volume create n8n_data
docker run -it --rm --name n8n -p 5678:5678 -v n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n docker.n8n.io/n8nio/n8n

The editor will open at http://localhost:5678.

What you need for a production installation

A test run differs from an installation that a company will use:

• Database. By default n8n stores workflows, credentials and execution history in SQLite. The documentation recommends SQLite only for getting started; for 24/7 operation and multiple users use PostgreSQL.
• Domain and HTTPS. To accept webhooks from external services, n8n must be accessible at a stable address with a certificate; it is usually published through a reverse proxy.
• Encryption key. Service credentials are stored encrypted in the database. Without the encryption key, which n8n stores in the settings directory or gets from the N8N_ENCRYPTION_KEY environment variable, a database restored from a backup cannot be decrypted. Save the key together with your backups.
• Scheduled backups of the database and the settings directory.
• Updates. n8n evolves quickly, and it should be updated regularly after testing changes on a copy.

Typical mistakes

• Using SQLite for production without backups.
• Lost encryption key — after restore all service connections must be recreated.
• Passwords and tokens hard-coded in node code instead of using the built-in credentials store.
• No failure notifications: a workflow stopped working and it was noticed a week later.
• One huge workflow for everything instead of several small ones that are easier to test and maintain.

Who n8n is for

• Small and medium-sized companies — for handling leads, notifications, reports and syncing data between services.
• Marketers — for publishing materials and collecting leads from different sources.
• Developers and administrators — for quick integrations and utility workflows without writing separate applications.

n8n is not suitable where complex business logic with large volumes of data and strict performance requirements is needed: such tasks are more reliably solved with a dedicated application.

You can install n8n on your server and configure workflows for your company’s processes as part of the business process automation on n8n.